Posts Tagged haberdashery

I’m sorry if I’ve fallen a bit behind with comments on your blogs for the past couple of weeks but I sort of went ‘off grid’ for a while which I am now paying for with mountains of emails to read through.

Guess where I’ve been?

Fish and chips on Brighton pier and a glass of Pimms – can it get more English than that? I never eat the mushy peas though.

Mlle. Tialys the elder took the Friday off work and we spent a long weekend together. In Brighton (see above), meeting up with an old friend (no photos of our Prosecco fuelled nostalgic ramblings) and a trip to Walthamstow Market which is right at the end of the Victoria line on the tube but Mlle. T. had heard rumours of good fabric to be had there so we made the pilgrimage.

I was slightly disappointed because although there were multitudinous fabric shops behind the market stalls, the vast majority of them carried sari fabric and the like which, though beautiful, isn’t what I usually buy to make my distinctly more conservative clothing. However, Mlle. T. was looking for some sparkly stuff to make a ‘unicorn dress’ which she will be making to wear to a wedding where all the guests have been asked to wear costume. Also, she needed some fabric that looks like chain mail to complete an outfit she is making to wear to this year’s Comic Con (a comic book convention where people wear costumes based on their favourite characters from comic books/fantasy/Dr. Who/manga/etc. So, the sparkly, colourful fabrics were a treasure trove for her.

This is who she’s going as. I’m hoping Security will let her in.

Haberdashery galore – all these beautiful fringes and trims were very cheap and I was dying to buy some but couldn’t bring a project to mind where I could use any – and I did try!!

Frankly, the rest of the stalls were mostly the usual market tat although the fruit and veg looked very good.

Despite these difficulties, we did manage to find a few bits and pieces. I had to leave my fabric haul behind as I had travelled with cabin bag only and couldn’t fit it all in once I’d rampaged through Marks and Spencer’s lingerie department and stocked up on plain white t-shirts in Primani. Mr. T. will, hopefully, remember to stuff his cabin bag with it all and bring it home with him tonight and then I’ll show you what I bought – none of it is sparkly, glittery or sequinned though as my days of dressing as a unicorn are now behind me. I can’t walk in hooves any more.

Walthamstow Market is apparently the longest in Europe. We took three hours to get down it and about 10 minutes to walk back. We then collapsed into a café where we were the only English speakers so I really did feel like I was on holiday.

We could have gone into this traditional Pie and Mash shop to eat I suppose. It has been granted Grade II listed status (see blue plaque to right of it) and dates from the 1920s with beautifully preserved decor inside. Despite being a Londoner by birth and upbringing, I have never liked jellied eels or eels cooked in any other way or even the mention of eels and, even though I think the pies they serve now are made with minced beef, the aversion lingers and I’m not a big fan of mashed potatoes unless I make them myself and ensure that all trace of lumps are extinguished (school dinners anyone?) and I’m not sure about the green liquor either. All in all, I was probably better of with a panini in the Polish café.

However, here is a photograph of the interior which, had I known was this beautiful, would at least have had a cup of tea in there or something.

On Monday Mlle. T. went back to work and I had a hygienist appointment (as such a profession doesn’t exist in France) and a bra fitting in M & S. Nobody can say I don’t know how to enjoy myself.

Not only tempted by the bras and knickers, I bought myself some lunch in M & S to take back to the flat before setting off to my Mum’s to spend the night before returning, with her, to France.

This is a beetroot and feta wrap with a pea, edamame and avocado crush.

In case you were wondering.

Meanwhile, the garden furniture I’d ordered had arrived in France and Mr. T. sent me a photo of how it was being appreciated in my absence.

Mum’s visit is now over and I took her back to the airport yesterday afternoon so I’m catching up with ‘stuff’. While she was here I abandoned the sewing and indulged my new crochet obsession – I have two blankets on the go at the moment but I’ll save that for the next post.

I made another ‘hoot’ owl because I saw a friend recently and, as I hadn’t seen her over Christmas, gave her the original one for a belated pressie. I used some fantastic buttons for his eyes and I got them locally in a really dated haberdashery shop. The sort of shop you haven’t seen for years anywhere else but in this (almost) forgotten corner of France, they still lurk. There were boxes and boxes of buttons stacked from floor to ceiling and I could have spent hours in there sifting through them all. Unfortunately, I noticed the other day that she has whitewashed the windows and moved out all the stock. I am hoping it’s only a refurbishment and not a closure – I must stop the car and read the notices in the window. If she does open again I’m going in for a massive button shopping spree.